Navy helps wounded, ill to Safe Harbor

Tabitha Mattocks felt alone, destined to prematurely end her budding Navy career and was unsure of what awaited her outside the gate.

Thomas Brennan - Thomas.Brennan@JDNews.com

Tabitha Mattocks felt alone, destined to prematurely end her budding Navy career and was unsure of what awaited her outside the gate.

Mattocks, a seaman apprentice serving as an administrative clerk at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, was transferred two months ago from Naval Station Great Lakes, Michigan, after being diagnosed with rapid onset syncope and Moya-Moya, a blood vessel disorder that can causes stroke. She said she had no idea what to expect as she began navigating life as a patient. However, once aboard Lejeune, the Navy Safe Harbor program immediately enrolled her and began preparing her to transition back to a life out of uniform.

Safe Harbor is a voluntary non-medical program designed to provide information on resources to all patients within the Navy and Coast Guard. However, only patients who meet eligibility requirements are formally enrolled into the program both during and after active-duty service. Enrollment criteria includes being a casualty of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom or Operation New Dawn, those injured while underway on naval vessels or during training accidents, and service members with serious medical or psychological conditions such as cancer or post-traumatic stress.

“I was in school, training, when I was diagnosed and Safe Harbor actually found me because I didn’t even know they existed,” said Mattocks, 19. “(Safe Harbor is) tracking me as I move forward (in treatment) and explaining everything I’m eligible for (upon discharge.) …They even took the time to explain (everything) to my family so they would know exactly what was going on.”

The idea for Safe Harbor began in 2005 when three billets were created for liaisons that would work directly with wounded sailors. Since then congressional mandates have been put in place to expand the program, and in late 2013 all five regions within the United States came online with Safe Harbor programs.

“It doesn’t matter why you are a patient because they treat you the same, whether you’ve been in a short time like me, or if you’re combat wounded after years and years of service,” Mattocks said. “It’s very nice to have a support group and know that you aren’t just being thrown to the side and forgotten.”

At the Naval Hospital, there are six enrolled patients who meet eligibility criteria for Safe Harbor. More than a dozen others actively seek information about available resources. Throughout the entire Navy and Coast Guard, since inception, there have been more than 1,500 patients enrolled. More than 750 have retired from active duty and still receive assistance. In addition to those enrolled and retired, 1,255 patients have been assisted but did not meet enrollment criteria. Patricia Babb, a marketing specialist with Safe Harbor, said that individual hospital data is not available due to the lifelong nature of the program and frequent transitions between non-medical care managers for patients.

Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Jones, 36, of Camp Lejeune said the greatest part of Safe Harbor is having an advocate to help mitigate stressful situations between him and his leaders when medical appointments interfere with work obligations. Being treated for multiple traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress, Jones said without his coordinator’s help, he would not have handled the confrontations with his command professionally and may have been punished punitively.

“Just having someone who isn’t concerned about a gap in a billet or any command politics and is willing to look out for you as a sailor who needs to get better is the very reason why more people should look into this program,” said Jones, a patient administrative clerk who was wounded serving under 2nd Marine Division. “As a senior sailor who was treated like this, it just makes me wonder whether junior sailors are being treated the same way.”

The program is designed to provide assistance to the service member and their family throughout three specific phases: recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration. Since not all patients are medically separated or retired from military service, the program also has resources for patients able to return to their military careers as well as patients who are deemed unfit for continued service.

“The only thing I see being able to improve this program is forming a command like Wounded Warrior Battalion so that we can focus on getting better and not be torn between holding a billet and being a patient,” Jones said. “Even if it’s under the hospital, having a unit for us would keep people from slipping through the cracks.”

As the naval hospital’s non-medical care manager for Safe Harbor, Chief Petty Officer Sean Owens, of Camp Lejeune, said he fully supports Safe Harbor being made into its own unit. The unit would not replace Wounded Warrior Battalion, but rather, work in conjunction with it.

“There’s a lot of resources that are made available to service members when they are processing out so it’s good for them to be made fully aware and not miss out on something that could make a big difference for them in the future,” Owens said. “Right now, sailors can stay with their units and use us as a resource when they have questions, which really eases things for them.”

During the recovery phase, resources include pay and personnel issues, family needs and invitational travel orders, legal and guardianship issues, transportation or housing, Social Security disability and more.

Throughout the rehabilitation phase, Safe Harbor coordinators provide family services, recreational and animal therapy options, physical rehabilitation programs, housing and automobile adaptations, assistive technological devices and adaptive athletics options. During this stage, it is determined if a patient will be evaluated by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to determine fitness for duty. If a patient’s doctors recommend him or her for a duty determination, Safe Harbor assists the service member in obtaining, filling out and submitting the required paperwork.

“It’s such a great feeling to assist service members through their transition,” Owens said. “This allows me to help those who may feel like they are alone in their journey. … Safe Harbor has helped tremendously to assist those, who for the most part, have no knowledge of how to transition from the military.”

“A lot of service members would be lost if it wasn’t for this program,” Owens said. “Even if I catch a person during the last month of their enlistment, I can hopefully give them some information that will make a difference in their life as they transition.”

Active-duty sailors and coast guardsmen who believes they meet the eligibility criteria and would like more information or want to verify eligibility can contact Chief Petty Officer Sean Owens at 910-450-3518 or sean.owens@med.navy.mil. For veterans or reservists, more information on Safe Harbor is available at safeharbor.navylive.dodlive.mil or by calling 855-628-9997.